Posts by Paul Williams
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Hard News: Triangulated by Fools, in reply to Tom Semmens,
Tom, in general, I think the renewal within the Labour has been pretty well managed. There's other members of the caucus I'd rather see move on well before Trevor. I think I'll leave it at that.
The Pagani principle, the concept that a political party is a self-justifying institution by merely existing for almost 100 years and of it being little more than a brand vehicle for ambitious egotists and political operatives, I reject totally.
I entirely agree!
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Hard News: Triangulated by Fools, in reply to dc_red,
Your opprobrium re: Mallard is well directed however.
I have a different take on Trevor having, briefly, worked for him. Certainly, he's made mistakes - he's admitted that - but he has a vital role in the Party and the Parliament and, from what I know second-hand, is a bloody hard working local MP. He was also a very good Minister across many significant portfolios under Clark.
I don't know first or second-hand if he's whispering to the media regarding Cunliffe, he is certainly no stranger to the darker side of politics. However, if you recall the last term of the Bolger/Shipley government, it was Trevor's work on Tuku Morgan that and the ill-fated predecessor of Maori TV that, in my opinion, dramatically affected the course of that government.
Perhaps Parliament and party politics are in need of reform, certainly I admire (and have said as much) the Greens current approach. However, I believe there remains a role for experienced MPs to do both substantial and political work (which necessarily means you'll upset people from time to time).
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to BenWilson,
Did they say what they base their opinion of a coup brewing on?
I'm guessing, but I suspect it's a combination of direct and indirect approaches by Cunliffe's 'team'. Goff and Ardern seem odd additions to this list though.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Deborah,
@Paul Williams…. :-) Contemplating what I might do.
Grand. I've no sense of the economy of sane, well considered and moderate analysis but...
Like most of this stuff, I have no idea how true that is.
I'm a little over this Sacha. I say this as someone not directly affected however (and I spent the best part of an hour on the phone to my father-in-law who is, not unreasonably, still pissed off about that government (he owned an SME in dairy manufacturing)). There's some clever saying about not fighting tomorrow's battles based on historical defeats I'd like to quote but can't recall.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Kumara Republic,
You’ll enjoy the Clifton article. :)
I’ll save it for when I’m feeling more equanimous. On average, I used to like three of five of her columns.
As an aside, isn’t it time for talent regeneration… Clifton, Coddington, Henry, Tamihere, even the bloke from Morning Report who married a Hawkesbury… I vote Russell, Toby Manhire, Deborah R (from 'round here), Danyl and Farrar even.
And in the Twitterverse, people seem to agree that the Shearer-Cunliffe stoush is nothing compared to Aussie Labor Party factionalism.
It so totally is not. I retain my membership of the NZ Labour Party despite not having been a resident for a decade. I’ll not ever, in all likelihood, join the ALP, unless or until you can join the national wing of the party, rather than the state… even then…
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Well, why would one? Given that the Greens don’t do any of this crap. If one’s a righty, and wants to dig up Northland / run slave labour fishing trawlers / watch pr0n videos on the taxpayers dollar, there is always the National Party, or the MaoriNats
I’m just going to say that I think this is a highly selective sample of misdeeds. I like the current mob of Greens, I think they bring something important to the parliament, but can we not turn this into a recruitment drive?
One Standard post about ‘old guard’ claims is interesting in light of our discussion above – usual caution about wading into the comments applies, and the place is rife with factional angles as you’d imagine
Read the first para, it started well, but like the blog itself, it degenerated quickly into, frankly, rubbish. Too many people are accessing the interwebz to publish their minute by minute conspiracy theories. Smarter folk might take time to think & reflect before advising the universe of their ‘take’.
Actually, one more thing about Zeletic, while I’m at it; if s/he’s going to claim to be on the spot historian, tell us your name or shut up.
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Barnard, I appreciate that you looked at the Standard so I don't have too. The Standard started well, but has ceased to be a useful forum, from my perspective at least.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to BenWilson,
Confused. Who is Mallard whispering against?
I think Russell said it might be Mallard, not that it necessarily was. I've no direct knowledge, but I've read that Cunliffe is said to be critical of some of the longer-served MPs.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to HenryB,
No need to apologise at all HenryB, I understand your point, I'm just offering my perspective on what I think he was doing. The role of the Whip is historically, if not always recently, one reserved for a Leader's most loyal MP and is focused on internal discilpine. Whatever else is going on, internal discipline is a lttle too loose.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Is this a groundhog day pattern?
To the extent that there's any rules, it does seem accepted practice that you don't openly question the leadership until you're ready to challenge. That does make it difficult to know who genuinely does or doesn't support the Leader.
FWIW, if I were advising Cunliffe, I'd tell him to do what Latham in Australia did (not that I'm making a comparison between the two individuals) and take himself to the backbench.